Comments on: How much should you pay an executive in a startup company? http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/ Venture capital, seed financings, convertible note bridge debt, M&A, option vesting and other matters explained for founders and entrepreneurs Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:54:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Yokum http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/comment-page-1/#comment-3077 Yokum Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:20:45 +0000 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/?p=684#comment-3077 @Scott - I think $5K/month after raising a $500K seed round seems okay. The equity ranges that you mention don't seem out of whack one way or the other. @Scott – I think $5K/month after raising a $500K seed round seems okay. The equity ranges that you mention don't seem out of whack one way or the other.

]]> By: Scott Oppliger http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/comment-page-1/#comment-3066 Scott Oppliger Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:14:16 +0000 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/?p=684#comment-3066 Yokum, I downloaded and read the entire compstudy document for technology and found it incredibly useful. I have one comment and one question for you. All of the salary and equity numbers made sense and seemed reasonable with one exception. I thought the pre-revenue salary numbers for founders in the <=1 funding stage to be almost unbelievable. I am smack in middle of our angel investor talks and am positive that they would find it unacceptable to pay founders salaries in those ranges pre-revenue. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding the numbers or not, but our entire founding team is planning on only paying ourselves a fraction of what we normally earned during our pre-revenue phase. I know you're not a compensation consultant, but I would love to hear any thoughts or experience you might have on that topic.<br><br>My question is regarding equity for my co-founders. Only two of us have left our jobs to work full-time. The other two cannot join full time until the company can pay them a salary, but they're contributing a great deal of software development "evenings and weekends". I'm trying to determine what equity and vesting works best. My discussions to-date have mentioned numbers varying between 2% and 7% for the three other people. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Yokum, I downloaded and read the entire compstudy document for technology and found it incredibly useful. I have one comment and one question for you. All of the salary and equity numbers made sense and seemed reasonable with one exception. I thought the pre-revenue salary numbers for founders in the <=1 funding stage to be almost unbelievable. I am smack in middle of our angel investor talks and am positive that they would find it unacceptable to pay founders salaries in those ranges pre-revenue. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding the numbers or not, but our entire founding team is planning on only paying ourselves a fraction of what we normally earned during our pre-revenue phase. I know you're not a compensation consultant, but I would love to hear any thoughts or experience you might have on that topic.

My question is regarding equity for my co-founders. Only two of us have left our jobs to work full-time. The other two cannot join full time until the company can pay them a salary, but they're contributing a great deal of software development “evenings and weekends”. I'm trying to determine what equity and vesting works best. My discussions to-date have mentioned numbers varying between 2% and 7% for the three other people. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

]]> By: Yokum http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/comment-page-1/#comment-2962 Yokum Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:56:56 +0000 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/?p=684#comment-2962 @Shell 123 - I'm a lawyer not a comp consultant. It's hard to tell what is appropriate without more facts, such as stage of company, your title, background, etc. @Shell 123 – I'm a lawyer not a comp consultant. It's hard to tell what is appropriate without more facts, such as stage of company, your title, background, etc.

]]> By: Yokum http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/comment-page-1/#comment-2933 Yokum Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:56:56 +0000 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/?p=684#comment-2933 @Shell 123 - I'm a lawyer not a comp consultant. It's hard to tell what is appropriate without more facts, such as stage of company, your title, background, etc. @Shell 123 – I'm a lawyer not a comp consultant. It's hard to tell what is appropriate without more facts, such as stage of company, your title, background, etc.

]]> By: SHELL123 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/comment-page-1/#comment-2932 SHELL123 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:44:43 +0000 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/?p=684#comment-2932 What should a startup company offer me in stock if salary is 1/3 of my market value,10% commission per deal ..They are offering 1% stock vesting in 4 years in 48 installments..I have to head and execute all sales research job in an asian country market.Please suggest. What should a startup company offer me in stock if salary is 1/3 of my market value,10% commission per deal ..They are offering 1% stock vesting in 4 years in 48 installments..I have to head and execute all sales research job in an asian country market.Please suggest.

]]> By: Yokum http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/comment-page-1/#comment-2861 Yokum Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:46:36 +0000 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/?p=684#comment-2861 @Runet - 0.10% to 1.00% seems like a fair range. 52 hours/year seems like a lot of time. I think 0.25% seems like it is on the low end for that much of a time commitment. @Runet – 0.10% to 1.00% seems like a fair range. 52 hours/year seems like a lot of time. I think 0.25% seems like it is on the low end for that much of a time commitment.

]]> By: Runet_startup_founder http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/05/01/how-much-should-you-pay-an-executive-in-a-startup-company/comment-page-1/#comment-2860 Runet_startup_founder Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:27:40 +0000 http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/?p=684#comment-2860 Yokum, what have you seen as an appropriate range for advisors to a pre-Series A startup? I would like the advisor in question, who has considerable interactive marketing expertise, to commit 1 hour a week for 1 year (so 52 hours total) to provide strategic marketing advice, make introductions to key people, etc. and suggested an equity grant (subject to vesting over that year) of 0.25%, which the advisor thought was too low. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Yokum, what have you seen as an appropriate range for advisors to a pre-Series A startup? I would like the advisor in question, who has considerable interactive marketing expertise, to commit 1 hour a week for 1 year (so 52 hours total) to provide strategic marketing advice, make introductions to key people, etc. and suggested an equity grant (subject to vesting over that year) of 0.25%, which the advisor thought was too low. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

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